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By Matt Byrne, Globe correspondent

Ten Malden firefighters and about as many police officers are expected
to be laid off as early as this week, fire and police officials said.
The nearly two dozen public safety positions are the latest casualty in
a protracted dispute over health benefits for both departments’ unions.

The officers who are set to lose their jobs will go before a
civil service panel Wednesday to air their concerns before the
cost-cutting layoffs are finalized, said Michael Murphy, Chief of the
Malden Fire Department.

Murphy said the department will eliminate Engine 4, stationed at
Overlook Ridge Drive, leaving the city with only three pump trucks. The
closure also forces the demotion of the two lieutenants previously in
command of the engine, Murphy said.

“Nobody is going to be as safe. The more help we have, the better job
that we can do. You take 25 percent of our first-response pumps out of
service, and we can’t supply the same service that we could before,” he
said.

The Police Department is set to lay off about as many
officers. Although the exact number of badges on the line is unknown, Mayor Richard C. Howard has threatened to lay off
between 13 and 16 officers.

The layoffs come weeks after the three public safety unions
representing police superior officers, patrolmen, and firefighters each
rejected a city health care plan that would have avoided job losses in
exchange for higher out-of-pocket costs and co-pays for the members and their families.

“We’ve come to a conclusion in all of [the negotiations], I think, and
they’ve staked out their position, and they’re not interested in
accepting this proposal we’ve put forward,” Howard said in a previous interview. “So we’ll take
the steps we have to take to have the budget balanced.”

The cuts also will force the city to give back at least one federal
grant because the fire department no longer meets the minimum
staffing level required to receive the money. Murphy said the layoffs
will prohibit him from spending $700,000 in grant money that could have
paid for six salaries.

While the cuts are painful, Howard said in a previous interview that
both unions made their positions clear. At least one vote by the police
superior officers' union was split 14-13, with the majority opposing
the adoption of the city health plan, Howard said.